Child Neglect - Father Speaks Out

9-1-04 - Police in Ardmore discovered two children living in a home they described as filthy, littered with animal feces and cockroaches.

An officer was called to the trailer home on south Commerce on Tuesday after a report of a malnourished dog. But when he arrived, he found a two-year-old child inside the home, eating cereal out of a bowl with cockroaches in it.

The police officer described a disturbing scene of rooms littered with animal waste, insects and rotting food.

But the father of those children, Robert Barr, says it wasn't like the officer described. He says his son was not eating out of the cereal bow, and they had been trying to rid the home of roaches for weeks.

He and his wife, Bethany Barr, were arrested on charges of child neglect. The two-year-old and a five-year-old sibling, who was in school at the time, were taken into protective custody, and have been placed in a foster home. The family told First News they are working with DHS to bring their children to a new home.

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